Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for managing a network device on a network.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, there is a system in which, if an error occurs in a network device (hereinafter referred to as a device), a client (a customer user) contacts a service center. The device may be a camera or an image forming apparatus such as a single function peripheral (SFP) or a multifunction peripheral (MFP). A service personnel is then dispatched to a location of the client to fix the device. Contents of a notification from the client include service requests such as an order for consumables, e.g., toner and sheets, an inquiry on an operation method, and an inquiry on a forgotten password, in addition to occurrence of the error (i.e., a failure). Such notification from the client to the service center is managed as an incident.
The incident indicates an event not included in a standard operation of a service which cause or may cause interruption of the service, or degradation of service quality. In other words, an incident indicates a state in which the client cannot use the above-described device during a period in which the device can be used at an original level of quality.
Incident data in which the incident is recorded includes device identification (ID) for identifying the device in which the error has occurred, and the content of the error.
On the other hand, there is a device management system which generates and provides a report on a usage of the device for advising the client of the device on replacing, newly purchasing, and a method for using the device. Such a report includes the incident and counter information to provide the client with the information on the usage of the device.
The incident is taken in the report by acquiring the incident data from an incident management system managed by the service center.
Further, the counter information is taken in the report by the device management system communicating with the device and acquiring the counter information.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-094919 discusses a method in which the device management system obtains the counter information from the device and manages it. More specifically, the device management system uniquely identifies the device using the device ID (e.g., an internet protocol (IP) address or a media access control (MAC) address).
The above-described device management system and the incident management system then cooperate with each other. As a result, the device management system can generate and provide to the client an overall device usage report.
However, the device management system is managed by a device sales company, while the incident management system is managed by the service center, so that a managing source of each system is sometimes different. In such a case, contracting units (i.e., management units) of the clients managed by each system may be different.
For example, the device sales company may manage a head office and a branch office of company Z as separate client tenants (i.e., client A and client B). On the other hand, the service center may collectively manage the head office and the branch office of company Z as one client (i.e., client 1).
In such a case, the device management system cannot determine whether to sort the incident data of “client 1” acquired from the incident management system to “client A” or “client B” in the device management system.
If the device management system stores the information on the devices of each client tenant, the device management system can compare the information on the devices with the device ID included in the incident data. The device management system can thus identify the client tenant for sorting the incident data thereto.
However, the incident data may be manually input, and may not include all of the correct information.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-094919 discusses a technique for identifying the device using the device ID with respect to the counter information. However, there is a case where the incident data may not include the information by which the device is identifiable as described above, so that the client tenant to which the incident data is to be sorted cannot be identified.